The present invention relates to a massaging appliance, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,600, for massaging the face or other body parts while applying a massaging cream thereto. The invention also relates to a cream dispenser unit particularly useful with the novel massaging appliance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,600 discloses a massaging appliance including an appliance housing enclosing a rotary motor; and a cream dispenser unit attached to the appliance housing and coupled to the rotary motor to be rotated thereby. The cream dispenser unit comprises a dispenser housing rotated by the rotary motor and having an end wall at the end of the dispenser housing distal from the appliance housing and formed with cream dispenser openings therethrough; a piston within the dispenser housing and normally rotated therewith to define with the distal end wall a compartment for containing a supply of the cream to be dispensed; and a piston stem threadedly receiving the piston.
In one described embodiment, cream is dispensed via the dispenser opening by manually rotating the dispenser housing and the piston therein, while holding the piston stem, to thereby advance the piston to force cream through the dispenser opening. In that embodiment, the operation of the cream dispenser unit would have to be interrupted in order to manually dispense cream through the dispenser opening.
A second embodiment described in that patent includes a manual control for manually stopping the rotation of the piston stem, while permitting rotation of the dispenser housing and the piston therein, to advance the piston on the piston stem and thereby to force cream through the dispenser opening. The manual control in that embodiment includes a ring fixed to the piston stem and extending externally of the appliance housing so as to be engageable by the user's finger in order to stop the rotation of the piston stem to force cream through the dispenser opening while the appliance is being used for massaging purposes.